The next morning, at ho.
On the second-floor balcony outside his room, snow fell heavily, covering everything in a vast blanket of white.
Matthew sat in a chair wearing nothing more than a simple white T-shirt and gray sweatpants. A secured laptop rested on his lap as he browsed through the various pieces of information Pierce had sent him.
"Multiple explosions have occurred in Rose Hill, Tennessee. Official reports classify them as terrorist attacks. Suspicious. Investigation ongoing."
"Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Hawkeye is preparing for a secret mission to Saint Petersburg under direct orders from Nick Fury. Suspected connection to the spy organization 'Red Room'."
"Explosion and collapse reported at a Roxxon Oil offshore platform. Detection indicates unknown mysterious energy. Investigation ongoing."
"Bruce Banner remains on the run. Estimated location: Brazil. General Ross and the military are in pursuit."
"Nick Fury has reactivated a highest-level classified project: Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Exact details unknown."
"X-n and Magneto are suspected to have t in Canada. Alkali Lake base has already been reclaid. William Stryker has gone into hiding."
"Superhuman Monitoring Database established. Currently compiling data files and cataloging known superhumans."
"Devil's Kettle remains cordoned off. Local resident Needy broke into the police station jail, displaying superhuman strength. She killed all mbers of the band 'Low Shoulder' and fled the town. Pursuit is underway."
After reaching the final report, Matthew placed the laptop onto the tea table in front of him.
He leaned back slightly, his eyes reflecting the endless snowfall outside, a thoughtful look flashing across them.
"Hawkeye, Red Room, Bruce Banner, William Stryker, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S… things are getting interesting."
It had to be said—bringing Pierce under his control had given Matthew his greatest advantage so far: access to an intelligence network that stretched across the entire world.
It allowed him to obtain countless classified files firsthand.
Combined with the mories from his previous life, he could imdiately connect the dots hidden inside this information.
It was practically like having omniscient vision.
Take Hawkeye's mission, for example.
Saint Petersburg. The Red Room.
It was obvious this marked the beginning of Black Widow's eventual defection.
Or Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.—Nick Fury had officially begun researching the Tesseract, the Space Stone, laying the foundation for the future Battle of New York.
Having a world-level organization at your back truly ca with countless advantages.
Of course, an organization like Hydra—built on brainwashing and absolute control—could never truly be taken whole under his command.
The best thod was exactly what he was doing now: rebuilding it for his own use, draining every ounce of value from it like a parasite, and discarding it afterward.
The Red Room, the Space Stone...
Matthew's eyes flickered slightly.
He had little interest in the latter.
Or rather—no interest for now.
Without sufficient strength, sothing like the Space Stone was useless to him. He didn't care whether or not his actions completely disrupted the so-called tiline.
It had already been more than seven months since he awakened his mories from his previous life, and the world continued turning as usual.
The Sorcerer Supre, the guardian of Earth and protector of the tiline, had yet to co knocking on his door.
That alone explained enough.
More importantly, even if he obtained the Space Stone now, it wouldn't provide him with any direct benefit.
On the contrary, aside from growing stronger, what interested him more was changing the fates of certain people—shattering the fixed future and turning what was once certain into the unknown.
It felt almost like playing a grand strategy simulation ga.
Finding talent.
Developing power.
Building an army.
Establishing a nation.
Step by step, ascending toward godhood.
And… building a harem.
Well, the last part may have drifted a little off course, but Matthew didn't think there was anything strange about that.
On the contrary, desire itself was one of the most important forces driving him forward.
Only with clear goals could he move toward them without hesitation.
It was also one of the main reasons he had been able to endure loneliness and isolation while training deep in the mountains.
What was most important in the twentieth century? Talent, of course.
Thinking back to the information he had just reviewed, Matthew quickly locked his next target onto the Red Room.
That place was hiding a real treasure.
The Red Room was an intelligence and espionage organization established back in the era of the Soviet Union, with its origins tracing all the way to the end of World War II before expanding rapidly during the Cold War.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was privatized by General Dreykov, becoming his personal global spy network.
Young orphan girls were abducted from all over the world and brought into the Red Room, where they were controlled, brainwashed, and trained through the cruelest thods imaginable.
From that, a massive network of spies and assassins was built—one that spread across the entire world.
All of it existed to fulfill Dreykov's ambition of controlling the world.
A force of nearly a thousand female agents, all skilled in infiltration, assassination, sabotage, and covert operations…
Leaving sothing like that in Dreykov's hands was simply too much of a waste.
Dreykov, you can't handle the Red Room.
Let take it from here.
After making up his mind, Matthew sat back down, picked up the laptop again, and sent out his orders.
Only then did he turn his attention to the report regarding Devil's Kettle.
Once the Devil's Kettle incident had erupted, S.H.I.E.L.D. had naturally moved in and imdiately placed the entire town under full lockdown.
The confidentiality level was set to the highest possible clearance.
This was standard procedure whenever S.H.I.E.L.D. dealt with the origin point of a supernatural incident and anyone directly involved.
During the lockdown, however, Needy—because of her close relationship with both the demon-possessed Jennifer and the entire incident—beca the focus of intense questioning by S.H.I.E.L.D.
It was during that process that the agents noticed major changes in her appearance.
As an ordinary student, Needy had never been particularly striking in terms of looks.
But now, her skin had turned noticeably fairer and smoother, her features had beco more refined, and her overall aura carried an almost seductive charm.
Especially her eyes.
It felt as though there was sothing strange hidden inside them—sothing almost magical.
Quite a few agents found themselves unconsciously drawn in the mont they t her gaze.
By the ti they realized sothing was wrong, Needy had already exploded into action.
She displayed strength far beyond that of a normal person.
Inside a police station filled with agents, she forcibly broke into the cell where the mbers of Low Shoulder were being held and killed them in an extrely brutal manner.
Then, while being pursued by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, she escaped into the mountains and vanished without a trace.
Reading this far, Matthew raised an eyebrow.
He hadn't expected there to be further developnts after the Devil's Kettle incident.
Now he was genuinely interested.
According to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal detection reports, the energy frequency detected from Needy was highly consistent with the residual energy Jennifer had left behind.
Back then, after killing that beautiful demon, Matthew had specifically used Observation Haki to scan the entire town.
Only after confirming there was no remaining demonic presence had he chosen to leave.
Could it be that the demon hadn't actually died and had instead transferred itself into this girl nad Needy?
But that possibility didn't seem very high.
After all, once Jennifer had died, the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia had clearly absorbed the demon's soul and activated the mory Fruit.
So how was this girl supposed to be explained?
When she lashed out, her first choice hadn't been escape.
Instead, she had gone straight to kill the band mbers who had sacrificed Jennifer.
That felt more like revenge.
And during her escape from town, although she injured quite a few agents, none of the injuries had been fatal.
Beyond that, Needy's escape had gone surprisingly smoothly.
She had actually managed to evade S.H.I.E.L.D.'s pursuit completely and disappear without a trace.
Because of the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, Matthew paid special attention to anything related to demons.
So he decided he would go and see the situation for himself.
If the girl had truly been possessed by a demon, he would kill it along the way.
And if she hadn't…
Then depending on the circumstances, he might recruit her into his team.
Matthew's interest in collecting talented people was far from ordinary.
...
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